The present invention relates to electrical connectors in general, and more particularly, to a genderless electrical connector having main and auxiliary housings with the auxiliary housing providing mechanical keying of the connector and auxiliary electrical contacts.
Genderless electrical connectors are well known in the electrical connector art. Representative examples of such connectors are shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,091,746; 3,218,599; 3,259,870; 3,654,586 and 3,794,957. The genderless type of electrical connector has gained wide acceptance in the batterymotive industry for connecting and disconnecting battery pack cables.
In the batterymotive industry, electrical charging of the vehicle's battery pack is a relatively frequent and routine operation. The charger is electrically connected to the battery pack through the battery cable connectors. After the connection is made, the charger is turned on for a predetermined period of time or until the battery pack reaches a fully charged state. The charger is then turned off and disconnected from the battery cable connector. Control of the battery charger operation can be affected through the use of auxiliary contacts that provide the de-energized making and breaking of the charger-battery cable electrical connections. U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,957 discloses a plural-poled, genderless electrical connector which provides a make first-break last electrical connection sequence for the primary electrical contacts while the auxiliary or control contacts are arranged to provide a make last-break first electrical connection sequence.
In the batterymotive industry, battery packs can provide a variety of voltages e.g., 12, 24, 36, 48 and 72 volts. It is important that the voltage of the battery pack correspond to the voltage output of the charger and to the voltage requirements of the electrical load connected to the battery pack. Although the plural-poled, genderless electrical connector described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,957 can be used with a variety of voltages, it does not provide any means for preventing the misconnection of electrical items having different voltages.
It is accordingly, a general object of the invention to provide a plural-poled, genderless electrical connector that includes an indexable, mechanical keying or interlocking.
It is a specific object of the invention to provide a plural-poled, genderless electrical connector having a main housing and an auxiliary housing with the auxiliary housing providing mechanical keying and auxiliary electrical connections.
It is a feature of the invention that the auxiliary housing can provide a plurality of indexing or keying positions to accommodate a corresponding plurality of voltages.